Most people are familiar with the name of Kanye West, even if they think it an infamous one. After all, he’s married to a Kardashian, and with that comes a cultural ubiquity of not the best sort, at least from a Christian perspective. Plus I’ve always thought of him as kind of strange, and an egomaniac to boot. Now he claims a conversion to Christianity, and in Kanye fashion isn’t keeping quiet about it. Much Internet ink is being spilled with a distinctly jaundiced eye toward the news, and I can certainly empathize with that. But given things seem to be going in the opposite direction culturally, with people advertising the abandonment of their faith, I thought, maybe I should give Kanye the benefit of the doubt.
My first exposure to something called Kanye’s “Sunday Services” was a Youtube video of a young guy, a pastor named Adam Tyson, giving a sermon on Isaiah 6. My initial response was, wow! The gospel! Unadorned, full on, truth! Biblically speaking. Maybe there is something to this. Then I read a piece in Christianity Today about this pastor, and how he connected with Kanye. There is definitely something to this! Then a few days ago my son showed me this almost two hour interview Kanye did recently with music journalist Zane Lowe:
My response? This is a very mature young Christian, one whose zeal could easily outstrip his knowledge, but who is thoughtful, and has obviously been well taught. Then I found this interview Pastor Tyson gave to a radio program called, “Wrath and Grace Radio,” and it filled in all the gaps. What an amazing story of God’s sovereign grace! The reason Kanye sounds so well taught, is because he was, and is! You’ll see from the short bio I linked to above, Pastor Tyson has a masters and doctorate from the seminary John MacArthur founded, and whatever one may think of MacArthur, he has been a solid voice for biblical truth in America for over 40 years.
I’ll admit this excites me. Not because my faith somehow needs a celebrity’s endorsement to validate it, but because the gospel has transformed this man’s perspective of reality and his life, and because of his massive celebrity, the good news has and will touch the lives of many who would never grace the door of a church. I also love it because our secular culture (and too many Christians buy into it) tries selling us a story that Christian faith in America is going the way of Europe. It isn’t! And here is one of the most famous people not just in America, but on the planet, who is boldly proclaiming the name of Jesus.
I think we sometimes forget that of his Church, Jesus said that the very gates of hell will not prevail against it. The nascent little Christian movement 2,000 years ago should have been crushed under the almighty power of the Roman empire, not to mention its Jewish enemies. Ever since, the devil has tried to wipe it out over and over again, but it continues to grow and thrive because God himself is building it, and he uses sinners like us, and and an unlikely rap star, to make it happen. I love it most of all because it exalts the name of Jesus, a name the secular culture thinks is passe and regressive. One of my favorite verses says it wonderfully, Is. 26: 8:
Yes, Lord, walking in the way of your laws,
we wait for you;
your name and renown
are the desire of our hearts.
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