At first I thought that this was a song about Jesus, but the more I thought about it, the more I began to think that Bethany wrote this song as a tribute to missionaries around the world. She sings to "carry the flame" and "hold it up high with a message of faith." He stays in the streets and ministers to beggars, and even though he's a "bullseye" (because in many countries the practice of Christianity is illegal and thus missionaries would be targeted) he goes from town to town carrying "the flame" of his faith. "His book is a gun that he reads for the people / The words that he speaks have been colored illegal" are really telling.
At first I thought that this was a song about Jesus, but the more I thought about it, the more I began to think that Bethany wrote this song as a tribute to missionaries around the world. She sings to "carry the flame" and "hold it up high with a message of faith." He stays in the streets and ministers to beggars, and even though he's a "bullseye" (because in many countries the practice of Christianity is illegal and thus missionaries would be targeted) he goes from town to town carrying "the flame" of his faith. "His book is a gun that he reads for the people / The words that he speaks have been colored illegal" are really telling.