“Ask the Lord for rain in the time of the latter rain…” (Zechariah 10:1, James 5:7).
ETW Music Collective - New Song Release - ‘RAIN’
The new 2025 reforged version of the song ‘RAIN’ has been a wonderful fresh collaboration with my friend of many years, Kevin Rankin: Music Producer / Musician / Songwriter / Photographer / Creative.
‘RAIN’ - Music and Lyrics By Kevin Rankin & Stephen Bennett, arranged and produced by Kevin Rankin.
This new song is an epic cinematic orchestral version, totally re-imagined and reforged through Kevin’s genius music gift. The ‘RAIN’ track is a sound created with his generosity, love, and a heart response to an old song of mine, that speaks loudly for now in many ways into peoples lives. Musically, it has a sonic fullness I’d personally always wanted to see created (see the current listening Tonic Audio link for ‘RAIN’ below). The first original song was called Rain Comes Down, a piece I wrote and produced 20 years ago in 2006'; a slower ballad style track. It was recorded in South Africa Johannesburg with the WIP music group, for my album, ‘South Africa for Breakthrough.’
(For your interest - Rain Comes Down, orginal song link) https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=M0SatsFbp70
My new journey with Kevin and the current song version ‘RAIN’ started in 2024. He heard the first iteration of‘Rain Comes Down,’ and had an immediate fresh vision for the piece, echoing my desire for massive epic music for these days. In 2006, the orginal was more an intimate seed version. But the song seemed to be rightly chosen for greater impact now, more than then, reforged by Kevin. A piece of music that prophesy’s powerfully in the genre of cinematic music.
‘RAIN’ grew into an epic landscape of music. In my mind it also calls for the might of the latter rain of the Holy Spirit to drench the nations in all His glory, power, thunder, and might (Zechariah 10:1, James 5:7). RAIN’ unleashes EPIC; as are the endless sounds of heaven revealed in the Bible; as we read in the book of Revelation - bigger than we can imagine!
NEW SONG listening link for the track ‘RAIN’ at Tonic Audio (Listen Loud!)
‘Rain’: The Reforging’ A True Tale, By Kevin Rankin
In the quiet town of Thistlewood a musician named Jonah, known for his soft and worshipful ballads, embarks on a quest to reforge his orginal beloved ‘rain song’. After years of its humble existence, he yearns to turn it into a cinematic masterpiece—a sweeping orchestral suite, that will move hearts and stir souls.
However, Jonah realizes that in order to bring this vision to life, he needs the help of a reclusive composer named Elias, whose talent for transforming music into epic symphonies is unparalleled. They meet at Elias’s cabin by the sea, and in the winds of the salty air, a new journey began…
As Elias starts to rework the new ‘RAIN’, strange and inexplicable things begin to happen. Every time he sits at the piano to compose or sing, the calm weather outside shifts dramatically, and a heavy rainstorm erupts. It’s as if the heavens themselves are responding to the music in real-time!
Jonah, initially puzzled, comes to see these storms as a divine approval of the new sound, a sign that his piece of music is on the right path; a confirmation from something much higher than our human understanding.
However, the process is not without its struggles. The simple, gentle melody of the original song begins to grow into something grand, but with every new arrangement, something feels like it’s being lost; an intimate connection with the song’s original message.
As the storm outside intensifies, Jonah wrestles with his own doubts, fearing that he might be overstepping the song’s quiet beauty for the sake of epic grandeur.
One fateful night, as a particularly violent storm ravages the town, Jonah retreats to the studio, determined to find the heart of the song once more. There, amidst the howling winds and the driving rain, he hears something extraordinary: a voice within the storm. It is not just the roar of nature but something deeper, a whisper in the winds that carries with it a new message.
The voice tells him that the new ‘RAIN’ is not just a prayer of solace like the old, but a call to new strength. The original version of the song was a quiet plea for comfort in times of sorrow, but now it must evolve into a declaration of faith; an anthem for those who face trials, storms, and uncertainties in this world. It’s a message of perseverance and hope, that even in the heaviest rains, something new and mighty will emerge.
Jonah realizes that the song’s transformation was never about losing its essence but about magnifying its power. The storms were not just an external sign of divine approval; they were the very spirit of the song being awakened, urging him to embrace the full depth of its message. Elias, too, understands this now, and together, they crafted a final version of‘RAIN’—a grand suite of orchestral swells and soaring vocals together, yet still carrying the tender, worshipful heart of the original.
When the piece is performed for the first time, the sky suddenly clears, and the sun breaks through the clouds. The music, full of thunderous power, reverberates across the land to an audience of thousands, stirring something deep within every listeners soul. The rain, having once symbolized a gentle prayer, now becomes a symbol of strength and transformation, reminding all who have ears to hear it, that even the fiercest storms can give way to a new and unshakeable hope…
In the end, Jonah’s song had not only been reforged—it was reborn by Elias, embodying both the quiet whisper of faith and the triumphant roar of victory.
The song of the storm becomes not just a piece of music, but a timeless anthem for all who walk through life’s crazy ravaging storms and trials, yet, emerging so much stronger from their experiences.
By Kevin J Rankin (July 24/2025)
Story: The new music track ‘RAIN’ - By Stephen Bennett
As a singer, musician I have always loved loud passionate big expressions of music, be it intimate songs of love, epic declarations, or otherwise. In the early-mid 1980s, Kevin and I were key members of the band Sons Of Thunder (SOT), in Queensland Australia, where Kevin produced much of the bands music. We are long time friends, still thundering strong in life, doing what we each love to do in our own separate world’s - being creative and living our lives to the full!
The SOT mantle from scripture, literally means to ‘create havoc in the spirit’ or ‘rend open the heavens.’ It was the prophet singers job of Heman in the Tabernacle of David. Similar to the rending, violent ripping open of the heavens above Jesus, when He was baptized by John and the Holy Spirit descended ‘like a dove.’ We sang many ‘last days songs’ into the spirit of Australia in the 1980s. Check out the SOT song, ‘Go’ https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PPJ6lW6wPVM
It’s interesting that John the Baptist was the greatest of prophets ever (Matthew 11:11). Jesus said, John took the kingdom by force with a spiritual violence that no one else had attained. Yet ironically, even the least of us in Christ, can, and even be, more-so than John, as great as he was.
When John the Baptist made a sound with his voice, thousands listened. Not just in his time and era, but those words and their inherent sound echoed right down through the corridors of history. However, there is a great spiritual war for that ‘prophetic sound.’ In his case, it cost John his life (Matthew 14:1-12, Mark 6:14-29). John was beheaded; who does that…!
When you lay down your gifts and abilities, and surrender, giving all and every facet of your life to the Lord, you will hear a different sound. As Apostle John saw in the book of Revelation, that music sound was utterly overwhelming; totally EPIC - like nothing he’d ever heard! These are the days for us to do that as singers, musicians and artists, in all creative genres.
My original version of the song ‘Rain Comes Down,’ had a strong personal intimacy with God, and a great melody, but I always knew there was more in it. Much of my early albums of music, even as a young Christian over 45 years ago, were strongly prophetic, with end-time themes, and songs for nations; they just arrived that way. But most didn’t fit into church music set lists, but as the years rolled on I realized they were often prophecies, or declarations to proclaim around the world in my travels, and also for now in this end-time era in which we live.
I hadn’t seen Kevin for a long time, and the journey of the re-forging of ‘RAIN' in collaboration with my old thunder friend turned into a huge joy and inspiration. He produced a masterful piece of music work, with the greatest of care and love. At the same time, 2025+, the Lord had re-focused me with music again, and called me to start the new ETW Music Collective, after writing over a dozen books and many articles over the past years. Kevin is a distinguished example of working with an independant artist, in my ETW vision with ETWMC; to build new relationships and work with other professional musicians, producers, and creatives, forging something special and inspiring at the right time on this new journey.
Today, we do live on the edge of the greatest time in history in these last days, where we will see the end-time scriptures fulfilled and Jesus returning to earth as He promised. It’s time to create fresh new sounds, and we must be ready!
Kevin had many experiences, as he poured his generosity, heart, spirit, and music into the nearly 150 hours of the recording and producing process of RAIN, a lot of it with the weather! ‘Yes it would often start to rain when he pressed the red record button, as he composed, arranged the music, played guitar and sang!’ But, let him tell his own story in his own words. The reforging of my original song into something very special ... ‘RAIN!’