Church and State - Welcome to the inkwell with Zaire Ink

Spokane Valley could become a sanctuary city of a different kind. Councilman Caleb Collier says that this proposal. I'm proposing that the city of Spokane Valley issue a proclamation stating that our city is a Second Amendment sanctuary. Welcome to the fire. Today on Church and State, welcome to the Inkwell with Zayer, Inc. Hello, Christian patriots, and welcome to Church and State, where we drive morality and religion over tolerance and apathy. And I'm your host, Caleb Collier, once again, your favorite far-right shock jock, and the show that talks about politics and religion. Jesus Christ is our referee, so it's always nice and clean. Real quick, point you to the website, churchandstate.media. Fill out the registration form for us. Get our newsletter. Also bypass all. The censorship issues with like YouTube and meta and all that. And, of course, I personally call every single one of you who fills this out. So if you want a chance to talk to me, there you go. 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I got to tell you, I love storytelling and I love lyrics. Lyrics matter to me. When I'm listening to music and it's just people putting together a string of words because they rhyme in some way. And I'm just like that. it didn't even make sense. Like you just rhymed something. So I love somebody who can come in here and be really clever with their words. Yeah. I appreciate that. That's definitely, you know, the focus of my artistry. I, My creative background began with poetry and spoken word. And so, you know, there's typically no instrumentation behind that, no beat. So you're just relying on your lyrics in front of an audience. You have to figure out a way to be engaging, but also provide them with something of substance that leaves them an opportunity to reflect and think about their own story. And so that's definitely what I aim to do with my hip hop music as well. And one of the other things, music obviously is such a creative outlet. And unfortunately, in the secular world, let's just take rap. There's a lot of bad things that are discussed in rap and hip hop, things about women and things about violence. And so I so appreciate when a Christian can come in there and say, I'm going to bring a different message. I'm going to bring a message of hope because Jesus has done so many things in my life that I want to share that with my audience. Yeah, absolutely. You know, there was, for me, an incredible conviction. When I initially started my kind of creative journey, I did not know Christ. And so through writing and through, you know, my story that hopefully we'll get into today, you know, Christ just started to reveal himself to me. And there was such a strong. Conviction on my heart that if I'm going to do anything creative, then it has to be sharing the message of hope that Jesus has done in my life. And so That's what I always try to lead with, especially, as you mentioned, in hip hop, rap music, which, you know, has a long history of glorifying substance abuse, glorifying, you know, the degrading of women. And things of that nature. But, you know, I've seen how art and music and, you know, literature and writing can be such a transformative piece and tool. And so that's always what I try to do with my music and try to inject that into music. a very dark and an environment that doesn't always reflect the glory of Christ. Yeah, absolutely. I would imagine that the Bible is a great place to get insight and to kind of get those creative juices flowing. Yeah. Yeah, 100 percent. Even, you know, with this project, which is called When You Meet Yourself, I was inspired by the story of Jacob. And so the album title is coming from that place where Jacob encounters God. He wrestles with him and God changes his name from Jacob to Israel. And so for me, this project, When You Meet Yourself, was very, very much inspired by that story of how, you know, God met me in my brokenness and he reveals our true sin nature that we have fallen away from relationship with him. But in encountering him, he starts to reveal his true plan for redemption and hope. And so, you know, it's from death to life. And that's really the inspiration that came from this project. And, you know, the Bible is filled with so much wisdom, filled with so much direction. And so that's always what I lean on when I'm creating. Well, I got to tell you, I absolutely love that. I want to talk about you. I want to get to know you. I want the audience to get to know you. You know, in your bio, you're talking about dealing with trauma and things. And so take the audience through the journey that ultimately led you to Christ. Yeah, of course. So I grew up, I'm from Canada, living on the West side, but initially I grew up in Montreal, so on the East coast of of Canada. And so I grew up in a Christian home. My dad was a pastor for 16 years. And so I grew up in and around faith, you know, would see him, you know, reading the Bible and praying. And so I had that early inspiration, that early understanding of But, you know, Christ is coming to each and every one of us. It has to become a personal relationship with him. And I didn't have that, although I would have identified as Christian for a significant portion of my life. But at 16 years old, my family and I moved across the country to Alberta. And so that caused. Really just a rift in sort of my identity. I, you know, I had, you know, grew up around a specific group of people. I had my older brothers who decided to stay behind. And so things started to kind of just break down in my own psyche at that time. And my dad had moved to Alberta two years prior, before him and my mom joined him. And that transition was difficult for all of us. And over the course of the preceding years, my parents ended up getting separated. And that was really traumatizing for me because, you know, family had always been my place of like safety and security and identity. You know, I grew up around a lot of, you know, friends who came from single parent households. And so I took a lot of pride in the fact that my family was close knit. You know, I felt like very misunderstood in the environments that I grew up around, but I felt like I always had a place in my home. And so when that foundation started to break down and faith left our home, I started to really struggle with, substances, getting involved in. Lust and relationships. That weren't honoring the Lord, and just really started to struggle with my mental health. And so over the course. Of those years, everything added up to a fateful night when I got into a verbal altercation with my middle brother, and I ended up jumping out of the car while he was still driving. And so I smashed my head onto the concrete and you know, have some scrapes and bruises. Thankfully, it wasn't as bad as it could have been. But that was really my rock bottom moment. And, you know, I really had to start wrestling with some existential questions like, you know, who is God? Is he real? Can I trust him? Can I know him? Is there even a reason for me being alive? And so I subsequently went on a spiritual journey, looking into different faith traditions and different religions. And that led me down a very dark path for a season. But through that, God was just so faithful, started to, you know, raise people up just to share the gospel with me, to encourage me. And he just started to reveal himself to me in a number of ways. And so I was then convinced that this God was so real, this God that my parents had told me about and tried their best to show me. And this started, you know, just a relationship where I would just seek him and just encounter him in miraculous ways. And so that kind of, you know, started a little bit of my journey of getting to know him and then leading me to wanting to share that with other people as well. I so appreciate you sharing that with the audience. I want to ask you about the two specific things that you were dealing with, more on that hedonism and then also seeking out other religions. I've been very open with the audience that I was a bad kid. I was a rough kid growing up, and certainly drugs and alcohol were a part of my life. And, you know, you find that. To be so shallow and it's just a temporary you're seeking that pleasure and that joy. But it's just fleeting, you know, and then it's on to the next high. I got to keep going and I got to keep finding the next party to be a part of it. Was that the similar experience for you? You were just like, I'm tired of just seeking pleasure. Yeah, exactly. You know, it's like. You, you seek pleasure for a moment and then it wears off and you're, you're instantly feeling that urge, you know, to, to seek another pleasure, you know? And so I remember it was just. You know, um, marijuana, alcohol, um, you know, partying different women, you know, it was just this. Constant seeking and trying to fill up that hole. And every moment was just like, there, there would be this great high and then just this, uh, great feeling of emptiness. And it just reached a point where I was like, I, I can't break free anymore. Even if I wanted to, I don't. Have the strength. I don't have the power. I don't have the capacity to get over this anymore. And I realized I was just really stuck. And that's ultimately what led to me just jumping out of the car because I felt like there's no escape. No amount of substances, no amount of. Lust or sex or anything of that nature is going to fulfill me. And so I, you know, had remembered kind of this childlike faith that I had when I would seek God as a kid. And I felt that peace and that, you know, would stick with me through the years. And I just realized it's either God or nothing. Like if there's nothing beyond me, then there's no reason for me being here. And so that really started that search for me. And as I said, and as you mentioned, like getting involved in different religions, it's the same sort of idea. We're trying to work our way to salvation. We're trying to obtain our own level of deification. And none of that is possible. God has created us with the desire to know him, not to set ourselves above him. Amen to that. Was there one specific religion out there that kind of caught your eye that maybe tempted you a little bit more than any of the others? Yeah, I would say it was kind of, you know, a little bit of a hodgepodge. You know, New Age is kind of pulling all these different. Things from various religions. So I. Were the two things that kind of drew my attention. As I said, identity was a huge part, and I think that's where the enemy really tries to capture you, getting you away from your identity as a child of God into your own deification or into praising something. Outside of God and giving worship to other things. And so For me, identity was finding, oh, my greatest identity was recognizing, oh, I'm a black man and we have experienced oppression and all these different things. And so that became my identity. And, oh, maybe we need to go back to the spirituality of our ancestors. Maybe that was what. Is needed when we were taken, you know, and there's just a lot of confusion that comes with that, a lot of deception. And so those two things, and then, you know, New Age spirituality, as I said, is just, you know, taking from all these different religions. And so for me, it was this idea of obtaining some sort of esoteric Gnostic power that other people are unaware of or, you know, haven't been let in on the secret. So those are the kind of two avenues I started to travel down. Sure. And that's a lot of temptation there, right? If you think you have access to this information that nobody else does, obviously, you're going to be filled with pride with that. But also, I mean, when you were talking about, you know, as a black man and kind of that history of oppression, I would imagine, I don't want to put words in your mouth, but I would imagine not only were you filled with some pride, but also a lot of anger. Yeah, absolutely. You know, it was really difficult with that transition across the country. So just a little context. Montreal is a very multicultural place. And so I grew up, you know, around Caribbean people, Caucasian people, European people, Asian people, you know, just a hodgepodge, a very mix of great diversity. And so I never... leaned into my identity as a black man. You're just a kid growing up around different community and around people from all different walks of life. And so I appreciated that. But the transition over to Alberta, and especially at the time in which I came, it was very segregated in a way. There was a lot more Caucasian people, fewer people of African descent. And so I just kind of felt ostracized. And I wouldn't say that was necessarily the reason, But for various reasons, I just. Struggled to connect. And so I started to kind of just see everything through that lens of, it's because I'm black. And, you know, maybe that was an aspect of it, but it certainly wasn't the totality of it. And again, you know, coming to Christ is recognizing my greatest identity is as a child of God. And we read in Revelation that people from all nations, all tongues will be gathered to Him. And so that's the beautiful reconciliation that God promises. And, you know, at the time I was definitely hearing from a lot of different instrumental, you know, African black figures that were that, you know, were in their own way trying their best, but were misguided, as many of us are. Yeah, absolutely. You know, obviously not from your perspective, but I mean, I grew up in San Francisco and multicultural like everybody, you know, and you just you just had friends like I never really looked at that. And then. Went into the Marine Corps and the same thing, the Marine Corps, like they used to say, you know, there's dark green Marines and there's light green Marines, you know. Like we were all Marines. It didn't matter. And so it wasn't really much until much later in my life where all of a sudden it was like, I became aware of some of these separations and some of these people that looked at other races either through skepticism or hostility. And it was always just kind of strange to me, kind of foreign. And especially as a Christian, when I just, You know, that's my brother or that's my sister. Like, I never really cared about that, but I'm not trying to diminish it or dismiss it because there is still some racial issues out there. Yeah, absolutely. You know, and I think what really is at the heart of it is sin, right? Wherever we see sin, we see these systems and these institutions being set up to foster that. You know, we talked about, you know, depravity and substance abuse. We see however the devil can, he will use something to divide us, to separate us, and to darken and dim our eyes from the truth of Christ. And so that was, for me, the great joy of. Coming to Christ was, you know, wow, there's this community, there's this fellowship with people, you know, across color lines, people from all walks of life. We can sit under the cross of Christ and have fellowship and have connection with And all of those things really pale in comparison to what He has done in our lives. And so that just filled. Me with, you know, even more motivation to break down those barriers in my own heart and wherever else they exist. Yeah, it's amazing that Christ brings everyone together, isn't it? I absolutely love it. I want to ask you about this. I'm seeing— you' re definitely more of an expert than I am, but I'm seeing a rise in Christian hip-hop. I'm seeing people that are unafraid— to say, Hey, I'm a Christian. Um, you know, one of the, one of the big ones that I love listening to his music is, is Dax. You know, that guy, when he, when I heard lonely dirt road, I was like, I think I played that song. On repeat over and over and over again. Cause it just hit me right in the heart. I was just like, Oh, like every guy can identify with this song, but are you seeing a rise in people in, in, in Christian hip hop artists? A hundred percent. You know, I've been doing a Christian hip hop for a number of years now. And I remember when I first started, uh, especially in Canada. I was telling my other friend who we work closely with, just like, man, we feel like we're the only ones out here. There's just no... other community, no one else to connect with. But through the last five to seven years, it's just been incredible to see the wave, especially of like young, unashamed Christian hip hop artists, just, you know, recognizing that they can use this tool and glorify Christ. I feel like for for many years, even myself, you know, my experience has been, you know, churches hasn't haven't necessarily known how to integrate Christian hip hop and other forms of of music into church music. But you're just seeing such a large number of Christian hip hop artists. And it's just, you know, even penetrating mainstream culture. You look at what Forrest Frank is doing a little bit adjacent to Christian hip hop, but he has worked with a number of those artists as well. And so, yeah, it's just incredible to see the way God has been breathing on this art form for the last few years and people just wanting to be faithful and going into these different spaces and proclaiming Christ, you know, unashamedly and even as I said, mainstream platforms starting to recognize and even champion that is just phenomenal. One of the things that I really love about it is you're not afraid. To go into the dark places and to talk openly about that. And I look at like Paul, for example, who wrote the bulk of the New Testament. He also wasn't afraid to dive in to some hard subjects and really get to where the common people were, not these theologians. It wasn't all just being pious and purity and all this. It was diving into it and being like, hey, this. Is a real struggle. This is what I went through. And I'm gonna put this to song so that maybe it'll connect with you and you can see that there is hope and. Yeah. Yeah. You know, the Apostle Paul is such an inspiration in that way, right? He was striving to be all things to all men. You know, he would move in the ways of the Jews when he needed to speak to those people, move in the ways of the Gentiles to connect with them and use, you know, their literature, use the different things that he would see around them in the context of the Gentiles to speak that. And so that's definitely, for me, the way I try to write is just composing music in layers so that even people who are unfamiliar with Christianity, unfamiliar with Christ, are able to connect on those raw emotions of trauma, of hurt, of pain, and then seeing how does this God, who is above all things, inject himself and interact in those spaces. You know, there's so many times in the Old Testament where it seems as though God is absent from the pages. We see in Esther, there's no mention of Yahweh. but we see his hand throughout that time. And so I just love that God works in space and time. He works through people and he is always going to get the glory. And so that's always the way I try to write. And just again, leading with the fact that we are meant to meet people where they are, but Christ brings the harvest. He brings the transformation and change. And so our job is just to be faithful and sowing those seeds and sharing the gospel message and loving on people faithfully and revealing the truth about, you know, brokenness and sin and our need for a savior. And so that's definitely the hope that I try to put into every single song and every single message. You know, I'm seeing this transition point really with with just Christian music as a whole, really even Christian entertainment for the longest time. Like Christian songs, if I'm going to call a spade a spade, guys, OK, they were pretty lame. Like a lot of them are really bad when it came to like Christian films and stuff. It was like. I'm watching this because I have to. OK, like this isn't any good, but I am. I'm seeing this massive transition point culturally where really they're putting out some really good stuff. And you're certainly a part of this. I appreciate that. Yeah. You know, when you look back at, you know, church history, Christianity and Christians have been at the forefront of so many innovations. And so I feel like, you know, in the 20th century, 21st century, We've stepped back from a lot of that, you know, for various reasons. But to your point, you know, for Christian film and Christian music, you know, there has been that. It's just it's corny. It's not it's not appealing to. To anybody else outside of they're just listening because the message is positive. But the music is not actually good. And so I think it's great that we have come up in a time where we felt excellence is actually glorifying God. It's amazing to use and to better ourselves through the gifts that he's given us. That's how we see in the very beginning, Adam is tasked with doing work. Not all of his time is spent just praising God. It's spent cultivating the environment that he's around. And so I think there's honor that we bring to God. In doing well. And so that's definitely what I want to do. That's definitely what I love to see across Christian music of people taking their craft seriously. Because they are tasked with the most important message. And our job is to not just, you know, steward that well creatively, but also in our relationship with Christ and how we live out our daily lives as well. You bring up such a fascinating point. It's so accurate. You said for the longest time, Christians were at the forefront of producing excellence. And I look, as you said that, I was thinking like classical music, which I personally love. It's absolutely beautiful. But pretty much every single one of those composers was a man of God. Yeah. Yeah, you know, you see, you know, so often they are, whether it be, you know, math, music, like they. Are wanting to discover the mystery, the brilliance, the magnificence of God. And so they are, you know, recognizing the intricacies of how he has created the universe, how he has created music and art and all these things. And so it should bring us great pleasure. And it certainly does me of like, man, how can I see how God is working through me creatively today? I just find that so rewarding. It excites me. It inspires me because in those moments, I really feel God at work. And so, you know, it's unfortunate that you see so often in the secular world, people producing really great, high quality music. And it's just like, wow, you're really missing it here with the message. And that is taking away the glory that we can hear is rightfully belonging to God and is from him. You know, I'm going to say something that some of the audience may not like or agree with, but I don't really care. I'm controversial and I embrace it. And also my audience is probably getting tired of me telling them I'm a Lutheran because I bring it up all the time. But ever since I converted to Lutheranism, and the good kind, I should say, I always do actually, but they do hymns and I love hymns. And I came out of the more Pentecostal, non-denominational church. And, you know, a lot of the songs were Wow. Feminine. Okay. I'll just throw it out there like that. They were, they were pretty feminine. And now that I'm starting to get into these hymns, they're so rich and they're so scriptural. And what I'm going to say that might be controversial is when I look at somebody such as yourself, who's doing hip hop and rap, like your lyrics, what you're putting in there, remind me of, of hymns to be quite honest. Hmm. You know, that's a that's high praise. I really do appreciate that. And I definitely know I can understand where you're coming from in the sense that for me, CCM music, I don't know if I would classify it as my experience being feminine, but it feels very eye centered, feels very me. You know, what can God do for me? I think that's kind of what we see in maybe, you know, mainstream, non-denominational Christianity. Um, it's just, you know, what, what can God give me? What can God, how does this make me feel? Um, and I feel like those hymns, especially those classic hymns are just that reverence. Um, they just point us towards Christ. Um, and you know, to your point about my, my, my music and my project, I have this song called awesome God. Um, and again, those lyrics are, our God is an awesome God. He reigns. And so just I feel, you know, I remember growing up with that as a kid and just being so inspired by again, like it's not about, you. Know, that we can go to new age for that. We can go to these other forms of religion for how great you are and your own elevation. But to recognize there is a God above me and he deserves all of me, I think is the most beautiful thing. And so, yeah, I love that. you know, those hymns that just remind us of that. And again, you know, we're speaking of music are just so beautifully crafted, are so intentionally created in devotion and worship of the characteristics of God that are worthy of praise and awe. You know, I absolutely love that. And I think perhaps you were a little bit nicer than I was on that one. You know, You're right. It was more I focused. I think a lot of the Christian music is more I focused. And I don't love that. I like music that points, as you said, to the creator of all. I like the focus to be on him instead of more of that genie in the bottle. What can you give me, God? And I really hope. That Christians can come out of that, uh, using whatever tool God provides, you know, and in your case, you know, it is hip hop music that you can take people out of that. I focus that centered that seeker sensitive prosperity gospel kind of message and really put the focus on, on God that, Hey, as Christians, we might suffer, we might go through. Some terrible things. And now, um, we're, we're right up on that hard break. I want to, I want to give you a chance to, uh, to talk about what I just said there. But real quick, let's plug the website here, Zayer Inc. And welcome to the inkwell right there, but Zayerinc.com. This is where you can listen, you can read about my guest. And actually, we're right on the hard break, but I'll have you come back as. Well and talk a little bit more about the website as well. This is Caleb Collier with Church and State. Are you tired of your device spying on you? Ladies and gentlemen, we live in 1984. Your phones, your tablets, your smart televisions, they all are spying on you. And this is why I heavily endorse Mark37. com. This is everything you need for your digital privacy. Phones, tablets, laptops, all of them are ghost protocoled. So that means that you are in charge of your own data. Just go to churchandstate.media, scroll over to shop and hit mark37. com for all of your privacy needs. Make sure to use that promo code churchandstate. And we're back and thank you for staying with us. You're over at churchandstate.media. We're going to go right back to our guests, but real quick, I do have to plug one of our awesome affiliates and Chris, I'm thinking coffee because coffee is amazing. You know, like We're Americans, or in the case of my guest, Canadian. But coffee, coffee, we love it on the Northern Hemisphere. Well, the Southern as well. But, you know, Americans in particular, we just love our coffee. We don't drink tea because it's garbage brown water. It is. I'll fight you on that one. Okay, so if you like coffee, you got to check out Hunter's Blend Coffee. It is absolutely phenomenal. They got the black powder blend. It's so dark. It's so good. Coffee has to be dark. You need to be able to chew it a little bit. That's what I like in coffee. So if you want to try a great cup of coffee, try Hunter's Blend Coffee and use the promo code church and state. Also one more time, hit the donate button for us. Come on. You know you like the shows, so please keep us alive. It does cost a lot of money to do what we do, so any amount helps us out. All right. With that, let's go back to our. Guest, and I kind of hit him with two different questions here, but first and foremost, let's talk about the website a little bit here because, Zare, I like what you got here, but I want people to go here. I want people to start listening to your music. I appreciate that. Yeah, so you can get all the information from me on ZaireInc.com. It has some great recent interviews I've done, some great stories about kind of what I'm chatting with Caleb about today, a little bit uncovering my story, where I come from. You got my music. You can also shop. You can buy a custom USB copy of my project, my latest project, When You Meet Yourself. It's rolling out on streaming platforms, but it's not officially out all the way just yet. And so you can still get the full album today. It also comes with. A lyric booklet where you can read through all the lyrics, get a fresh perspective of what I've been through and kind of the message behind the lyrics, the stories that we're unpacking here today. And then you can keep up to date with me on Spotify, Apple, Instagram, Facebook, all of the good social media platforms where I am. um, putting out some, some content, uh, behind the scenes of what I've been working on as well. I absolutely love that. And, and I'll probably come back to the website here in a little bit, but I also hit you with that, you know, that prosperity gospel, that seeker sensitive, which has invaded the church. I am not a fan at all of it. Um, but I'd love to hear your perspective, but once again, I don't want to put words in your mouth. Yeah, no, likewise, you know, um, The Bible in Jude talks about us earnestly contending for the faith once delivered to the saints. And we see that the prosperity gospel is a shallow version of that. It's not the totality of the faith. And I feel like very early on in my Christian walk, in many ways, I was a victim to that, believing that we can name it and claim it. And you always get your healing. God always wants to bless and bring you all these things, ignoring the. Fact that we will suffer as Christ suffered. We will go through different challenges throughout our time here because this is not the fullness of what God has promised us. And so on my project, When You Meet Yourself, I go through this chapter called sanctification. And so there's three songs which. Really wrestle through why do these difficult things happen to us on this side of eternity? What does that look like? And we start to understand as the Bible says that it is God creating, we see it as an opportunity for Him to, one, bring us closer to being conformed to the image of His Son, and for us to bring about the fruit of the Spirit, those characteristics that make us more fruitful, more usable to God. You know, we see. Paul wanting to suffer, wanting to embrace the persecution that he was going through because he knew that it would be for the glory of bringing people to saving faith in Christ. And so, yeah, you know, definitely the prosperity gospel and seeker-sensitive movement have unfortunately, you know. Ravaged a large swath of Christendom. But I think it's so important that we who are, you know, watchmen, watchwomen on the wall, again, contend earnestly for that faith once delivered to the saints. And that includes the fact that we will suffer on this side of eternity. And God promises that he will be with us. He will carry us through all those pains. And we have this great reward at the end of that where we will all be gathered with him for eternity. I absolutely love what you just said there. And, you know, if if Christianity was that that genie in the bottle, the whole world would recognize it. If all it took was for us to become a Christian and all of a sudden our life is perfect, you know, Napoleon Dynamite or not Napoleon Dynamite. What's the wrestler one? Nacho Libre. Like my my life is good, you know, like. No, like everybody would just automatically gravitate towards that because, hey, these Christians have got it figured out. But no, that's not the truth. The truth is we're still going to go through the same things that the rest of the world is. We just have that eternal hope. Exactly. You know, that's the beautiful thing. There's a song on my project called Psalm 73, and it's based on the biblical psalm of the same name inspired by that. And I just love that psalm so very much. It's ministered to me greatly over the years. Because the writer Asaph is wrestling with these questions. Why do bad things happen to good people and good things happen to bad people? And he is recognizing that it seems like the wicked are prospering, like they are lifted up and they are doing well and they're able to enact all this evil. And then at the latter half. Of the psalm, he says he was like a beast until he entered into the presence of God. And he started to understand God's great plan as it stretched out over time. and space, and eternity, how God is actually going to administer justice, and that it's through our faithful obedience through suffering that we are bearing fruit for the kingdom of God. And so that was a switch I needed to make in my mind as I started to go through my Christian walk, where I'm like, things aren't perfect. My life hasn't changed greatly. In fact, in some ways, it's gotten worse. But through that all, I'm experiencing the presence of God with me, and that's worth more than anything else I could have. The Bible also says. In Hebrews recounting Moses, he forewent the passing pleasures of sin to embrace the struggles of the Israelites. And certainly that's a model for us as New Testament believers. Amen. Once again, you know, I kind of want to do something. I wasn't planning on doing it, but I kind of want to play one of the songs for the audience. Would you mind if we did something like that? Yeah, that'd be amazing, of course. Okay, Chris, if you go to the website again and you go to listen, and you brought up Psalm 73, it's track one for this new album. Yeah. You think, okay, let's, Chris, if you do that, let's just go ahead and play that. Oh, oh. It's hard sometimes. God knows I've tried. Yes, I've crossed the line. To get all that's mine. Oh, it's hard sometimes. God knows I've tried. Yes, I've crossed the line. Oh, God. I shouldn't be on this track I got too much on my back Might have to rewind it back My mom been under attack. What an unfortunate fact. What would you know about that? What would you know about that? What would you know about losing your baby before it's been born? No body to bury but still gotta mourn. As mad as I was, this is where I could've sworn. Like God, if you love me, why give me a thorn? I mean, I didn't want to play the whole song because I wanted to do the interview, but man, that's solid. Like, I mean, coming from a white guy, right? Like, you flow. Your flow is really good. Appreciate that. Thank you so much. Yeah, I can see the audience liking that. Yeah, I appreciate that. Yeah, you know, that was obviously the first song off the project, but it was written a little later on through the creation of the project. And, you know, my family and I had just went through a really devastating loss. And so I had taken some time off from writing. And that was, you know, the first song I came, you know, created as I was coming back to it. And And it just put me back in that space, that frame of mind early on when I was just. Wondering where God was. And of course, on the other side of having faith, being reminded that we will go through suffering, we will go through loss. But God promises that the consolation at the end. Of the ages, there will be that. There will be that hope and that restoration. And so just being strengthened by that, it was something I wanted to provide the audience as a foretaste for what's to come in the rest of the project. You know, and going back to what I said about hymns and doing that comparison, if you look in the hymnals, you're going to see that every line. Has a scripture verse next to it. And I just opened up a hymn book and right here as kind of evidence right here is Psalm 73. Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. Yeah. You know, I love exactly everything should be tied back to scripture. And so throughout this project, there are so many references. Allusions to passages of scripture. So it's almost like you can know exactly where I was reading, where I was inspired as you go through the project. There are those tiebacks. And so, you know, of course we see, you know, in the Bible itself, so many cross references. We see that throughout the New Testament, how often they are hearkening back to it. And they're not. Always letting you know directly, but through the imagery, through the language, through the wording, we're able to connect those tiebacks. And so that's definitely an inspiration for me as well. And one of the other things that I just I feel compelled to address here is. there's an edginess to hip hop, right? Um, that you're not losing. Like for myself, I played in a punk rock band. There's, there's an edginess to punk rock as well. That even, even when you get in, you're doing Christian punk rock or in your case, Christian hip hop, you're not losing that edginess. And the Bible is edgy. Like, so I, maybe that's why for me, like, I just, I like this kind of stuff, right? It, it appeals to me because it hasn't lost the edginess. Yeah. Yeah, that's a great point. You know, I often play hip hop music. We'll play this game. It's like, is this Christian or non-Christian? And she'll just know. By the kind of the tone and, you know, that lack of edginess is like, this is Christian. And so I to your point, like, man, the Bible, like these these guys are tough. These people are tough. They had to be in that time. But also, like, they're really up against armies. They're up against, you know, darkness and the kingdom of darkness. And so how much more edgy, how much more, you know, resolute should we be in our delivery? And that was something, you know, I had to kind of understand as well. Like we lead with love. Of course, but love comes with conviction. Love comes with a toughness as well. And so that's something I always strive to maintain in my music as well, because as I said, there will be great difficulties, but God is making us strong. battle-tested and hungry and ready to go against the opposition that comes from the kingdom of darkness. I got to tell you, there's nothing more controversial, more edgy than preaching the truth, right? Jesus said that the world hated him, so it's going to hate us. So when you're out there and you're producing Christian hip hop and you're going against, you know, the culture of degrading women and drugs and alcohol and violence, again, your stuff's going to be edgier. And I think people are going to want to listen to it. Yeah. Yeah. No, I appreciate that. You know, it's always, you know, every time I step on stage, it is just a reminder of that. Like the music is going to be so countercultural. And that comes with the weight that comes with the heaviness. But again, we lean not on our own strength and power, but on the move of the Holy Spirit at work in us. And so, yeah, it's just amazing to experience that. And there's a strong sense of that opposition for me every time I'm, you know, performing or sharing my testimony, you know, recognizing this is not necessarily an environment that is wanting to hear the name of Christ. And other people will come right before you, right after you and try to demean and diminish his glory. And so we have to be firm. We have to stand strong in that messaging for sure. Amen to that. Well, I told you that my son plays hockey and we're right up on the border of Canada. So I'm you know, I'm going up there. We're doing games and stuff. I got to I got to come see you perform. But for the rest of the audience, you doing any tour dates or anything like that? Yeah, no tour dates on the books just yet. I am trying to put that together for 2027. So again, you can find everything on my website. Any updated tours will be there. And so hopefully 2027 will be a small tour of Alberta that I'm planning on putting together. Well, once again, Albert is not that far from me, so I'm going to have to check that out. I'll let you know if I'm in the audience. It would be awesome to see you. I think my kids would absolutely be thrilled to meet you and to listen to your music. I'm going to bring up your website one more time. We're fast approaching the end of the show. But the audience, I want you guys to go here. Take it away. Tell people why they should go here and just promote yourself. Absolutely. Yeah. So once again, you can get all my information on my website, ZaireInc.com. Welcome to the Inc. Well is where we. Dive deep into my story, but also great music that is faithful, that is wholesome, that is designed to not only share my story, but also help you start to wrestle with. Your own and go back to those existential questions. If you're wondering. Where you can find hope, where you can find answers to your questions. I definitely hope to be able to contribute to leading. You in that direction. And so you can get all of the kind of backstory from me. There's links to my streaming services that I'm on, YouTube, all of that good stuff is there. And you can also connect with me directly on my website. You can shoot me a message. I'd love to hear from you and connect with you further if you need any help or just want to get to know me. I'm available for that as well. I just got to point out as well, you know, welcome to the inkwell. And here you are, your pen, you're dipping it into the well that never runs dry. Was that intentional? Absolutely. A hundred percent. You know, that is where everything flows from for me. You know, God is inexhaustible. And so I never have to worry about writer's block or not having another story to tell because he has, you know, given us his word and invited us to share our own testimonies of what he's done in our lives. And so definitely Welcome to the Inkwell is, once again, a hearkening back. To what God has done in my life. Well, I absolutely love that. And you can see the evidence of your faith just throughout the whole website and just in this interview as well. I got to tell you, it's been a real pleasure. You got a new fan right here. I'm going to go home. I'm going to show my kids and we're going to be rocking out to it. I'm going to go ahead and close this out. If you hold on one more minute post-production to say our goodbyes, I'd appreciate it. But thank you so much for joining us on. Church and State. Absolutely. Thank you for having me, Caleb. It's been a pleasure. Oh, yeah. Real pleasure on my end as well. Well, ladies and gentlemen, there you go. I want you to go check this guy out. He's got incredible songs. You heard one of them or a part of one of them on this interview. But go show this guy some love. I'm telling you, these are some solid songs, some solid storytelling. So ZairInc.com, go check it out for us. Church of State is brought to you in part by Colonial Life Spokane, Independent Agents, Finders Insurance, and Mark37. Com. I'm Caleb Collier. I was born for a storm. Hey, this is Caleb Collier with Church and State, and I want to tell you about Patriot Pouch. Look, if you're one of these. Individuals that's interested in nicotine and potentially the health benefits from it, but you're concerned about some of the side effects, Patriot Pouch might be your answer. This is a company that uses nixidine instead of nicotine. It hits the same nicotine receptors in your brain, but without those side effects like elevated heart rate or elevated blood pressure. 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